Waterproof leather welting.



I. W. BARBER.

WATERPROOF LEATHER WELTING.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 14. I915.

1 1K39 Patented. 11111.4, 1916.

JOHN W. BARBER, 0F NEWTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

WATERPROOF LEATHER WELTING.

I Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. a, 1916.

Original application filed October 7, 1910, Serial No. 585,795. RenewedJuly 14, 1913, Serial No. 779,006.

Divided and this application filed April 14, 1915.

To all whom it may concern Be it'known that I, JOHN IV. BARBER, ofNewton, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in "Waterproof LeatherWelting, of which the following is a specification, this applicationbeing a division of my application originally filed October 7, 1910,Serial No. 585,795, renewed July 14, 1913, Serial No. 779,006.

In the manufacture of the better class of boots and shoes the custom hasprevailed of attaching a strip of leather called a welt to the upperleather, and attaching the sole to this welt.

The welt or welting is applied usually by machinery and this welt is fedthrough a welt guide, and as this guide is apertured to exactly fit thesize of welting used, it has been the custom to immerse the welting inwater to make it pliable enougheto easily pass through such welt-guidewhen the sewing-machine is operated.

In early days the welting was cut from the hide in strips long enough tosew one or a pair of boots, and later it was made of a plurality ofstrips skived and cemented together at their ends, thus forming a longstrip, which in turn was put up in rolls, usually fifteen yards or so,ready to be mounted on the sewing-machine, and this last is still theusual method; Owing to the necessity of soaking this welting, for thereason above explained, it has been'the custom to make it of unstufi'edleather,that it might the more quickly absorb moisture and it has beenconsidered necessary to employ some kind of rubber cement which is notonly pliable but also capable of .resisting the moisture employed forrendering the strip pliable; any cement-that can be at tacked bymoisture would not do, as the plurality of strips forming the welt-rollwould then part. v

It is practically impossible to cut strips from a large piece ofwaterproofedleather and then skive and cement the strips end to end,because suitable waterproofingmaterials such as hydrocarbon products areof such nature that no practical cement will durably connect leatherwhich is impregnated with such material. On the other hand by firsttaking pieces of unstufled leather and by the methods now employed,

Serial No. 21,357.

and with proper cements, uniting these strips and afterwardwaterproofing the same by my invention it is possible, for reasonshereinafter shown, to produce, without any change of methods inmanufacturing, a boot or shoe without the defects noted above, and tofurnish a shoe hermetically closed against moisture both as regardsleather and stitching threads. By my treatment of the strip to renderthe leather waterproof, the strip is left in such a pliable conditionthat it can be fed or drawn through the welt guide equally as well asthe now commonly used moistened welt strips.

The accompanying drawing illustrates a roll of welting of a well knownkind, but

.it is impossible to represent the waterproofing materials with whichthe leather is impregnated.

After the several sections a, a, have been skived at b, b, and united byany wellknown or preferred cement, the entire strip (preferably beforecoiling the same) is impregnated with waterproofing ingredients. Theingredients and'the method of impreg nation, may be as described in myapplication hereinbefore referred to, said ingredients, as statedthereinybeing petrolatum and paraffin.

Not all kinds of cements are proper to be used in connection with myprocess, but inasmuch as some manufacturers are in the ordinary courseof trade now cementing their welting in a way requiring no change by mywaterproofing process, and as there are several kinds of cements to befound in commerce, I do not articularize concerning this step in its prouction.

The waterproofing ingredients may be placed in a suitable tank,unnecessary to illus trate, the waterproofing agents being placed in astate of fluidity by chemical action or by heat, and while in said tanka frame containing the welting may be immersed for the time required,which will Va. according to the character ofthe leather, its thickness,etc.

While it may be possible to make a welting sufficiently waterproof witha single application. of certain waterproof compositions I usually, fora perfect blending and proper clench of the materials employed, apply asuccession of treatments, as for leather in general, as explained in myapplication hereinbefore referred to, the first treatment being byimpregnating thematerial with petrolatum and paraflin of the proportionsof three parts of petrolatum to one part of paraflin, followed byanother impregnation with the same ingredients but of the proportions ofsubstantially equal parts. The first treatment is for flexibility andthe last for the purpose of sealing the first applied impregnation andpreventing any loss of Waterproofing properties until the boot isabsolutely worn out.

Much the same treatment is required as for the boot sole, the thing onlyto be borne in mind being that the flexibility must be equal to thedemands of the Welt-guide 1n the sewing machine.

There is another'important factor in the production of a waterproof shoealso dependantupon thewelting, viz, the stitching on of the sole. Topermit a sufficiently strong thread being used to hold sole and welttogether, the machine usually has an at tachment for conveying heat tothe usual waxed-end or thread. This serves in myinvention as the vehiclefor making hermetic every stitch hole and also excluding air from thesewing thread itself; the causes of many ruined boots'not Worn for sometime after being made. The (preferably last applied composition referreto is preferably crys talline in nature and of such a character thatheat temporarily softens it. Consesequently .as the heatedthread in theordinary process 'passes through the sole and weltin'r' each strand ofthe thread takes u some of thewate'rproofing substance and is coveredthereby, and said substance quickly solidifies, wrapping the strands andfilling the holes. Whenevermy process is applie to the soles as well,the resultis as stated a in my application referred to, viz, the soleand welt will alwavs remain flexible, each stitch will be sealed, andthe entire boot or mamas shoe will be waterproof during practically itsentire life of use and wear.-

transmission of. moisture to the insole.

Heretofore it has been impossible to pro duce a boot or shoemanufactured by the customary and most approved machinery processes thatwill be in anything but a com parative degree Waterproof becauseunstufled leather welting must act as a wick to convev moisture betweenthe upper and the sole, direct to the insole with which the welt is incontact.

For the sake of brevity, I'have employed the term welting, but it is tobe understood that I intend by this term to include such strips orribbons composed of pieces of leather united and rendered waterproof asare adapted for, and capable of, the functions usually performed by thestrips commonly known in the art of shoe-making as welting, and I do notintend to cover, by this term, leather belting and analogousmanufactures. c --Having now described my invention, 1 claim: A

1. As a new article of manufacture, Waterproof leather weltingconsisting of a plurality of strips cemented together, the said weltinghaving suflicient pliability to enable it to pass through the welt guideof a shoe sewing machine without being moistened, the Welting alsohaving sufiicient strength to enable it to be secured in the ordinarymanner.

2. Asa new article of manufacture, a welt of leather formed of piecesunited end to end and Waterproofed substantially as shown and described.g

In testimony whereof I have afixed my signature, in presence of twowitnesses.

JOHN W. BARBER.

